An offence was registered against ADC to the Maharashtra governor, Deepak Pandey, on a complaint filed by his wife for alleged dowry torture, even as the IPS officer got anticipatory bail till November 17.
Pandey was booked by Azad Maidan police station in Mumbai with charges of subjecting his wife Nidhi Pandey, an IAS officer, to cruelty (section 498-A, IPC) and criminal intimidation (section 506, IPC).
Nidhi, working as Deputy CEO in the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA), has complained to Director General of Police K K Kashyap that her husband had subjected her to physical and mental torture and even threatened to kill her with his service revolver.
DGP ordered a police probe and submitted a report to the government, which referred the matter to Mumbai police. Apprehending arrest, Pandey on Saturday moved the sessions court for an anticipatory bail.
Hearing Pandey's plea, the court, in an interim order, granted him relief till November 17 for want of time due to Diwali vacation from Sunday and ordered that in the event of his arrest he may be released on personal bond or surety of Rs 10,000.
The court also asked him to remain present on November 17 of before it and ordered him to report to the concerned police station on Monday between 4 pm and 6 pm.
Pandey pleaded that he and his wife were cohabitated happily for several months after their marriage in February 2002. Later, differences cropped up between them and they filed divorce proceedings in family court where the case is pending.
Pandey denied the allegations alleging that Nidhi had come up with a concocted story of dowry torture. Referring to a statement of Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil in media hinting action against Pandey, the officer said he apprehended arrest and hence sought anticipatory bail.
Talking to reporters, Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy denied that the police had caused delay in registering a case of dowry torture against Pandey.
He said that the police had not received any complaint from Nidhi so far and the offence registered against Pandey on Saturday was based on Nidhi's statement recorded during a police probe conducted earlier.
"Nidhi Pandey has not filed any complaint with us so far nor did the alleged offence take place in Mumbai," he told newspersons in Mumbai on Saturday.
The police commissioner said Mumbai police received the relevant documents from the DGP's office on November 1. "Some important papers were missing like the report of the probe etc and we asked for them," he said.
The necessary papers were received by Mumbai police on November 5 following which a decision to book Pandey for dowry torture (section 498 (A) of IPC), and criminal intimidation (section 506 (2)) was taken, he said.
Roy said an officer of the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police has been designated as investigating officer in the case.